Shares in Foxconn International Holdings slumped nearly 8 per cent today after the kitmaker reported a whopping loss for the first half of the year.

FIH, the bit of Hon Hai Group that works for Nokia, not Apple, has lost a record $226m so far this year as its star customer falters, compared to a loss of just $18m for the same time in 2011.

"During the first six months of 2012, we saw major changes in the handset ecosystem triggered by the end market volatility due to the European and global economic slow-down, the emergence of new service/applications-centric business models and resulting in our customers’ continuous struggle in their market share protection battle," FIH said.

The manufacturer's turnover also dropped almost 16.4 per cent to $2.5bn compared to $2.99bn in the first six months of last year.

FIH's customers are mobile-makers Nokia, Motorola and Sony/Sony Ericsson, while another unit of its sprawling Taiwanese parent manufactures kit for Apple and Samsung.

Unsurprisingly, the company said it was looking for new customers to help demand meet its capacity. FIH is also consolidating manufacturing sites and reorganising its business operations, but it said it was still "cautious" about the rest of the year.

FIH said: "Notwithstanding our continuous endeavours, at present, we still see tremendous challenges to restore our financial position to profitability by the end of 2012. Our strategy is to focus on new customers in smartphone sector." ®